2015's unlikeliest number one single is one you can't actually listen to

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No music needed: a silent “song” recorded in protest against Austria’s treatment of asylum seekers has become a top-seller in its native iTunes charts.

Artist Raoul Haspel released his track Schweigeminute (Minute’s Silence) on Friday, and thanks to days of pre-orders, it went straight to number one in Austria, and is still in the top 10. Proceeds from the single will go towards helping refugees currently seeking shelter at an asylum centre near Vienna.

More than 2,000 people in Traiskirchen have been forced to sleep outside, facing rainstorms and extreme heat. In a report released last week, Amnesty International called their treatment “scandalous”, citing examples of children who had escaped warzones alone and who were not being offered psychological care, and a baby with concussion being left next to a bus in a car park.

"I chose silence because everybody has such a strong opinion on the situation, and the debate just gets louder and louder each time,” Haspel told Reuters. Arguments and protests are not being heard anymore, people are becoming fed up and not paying attention as before."

It is too early to establish how much money has been made, he says. He hopes that Apple will waive their usual fee from the sale price, but if not, he will pay it himself.

Austria had more than 10,000 asylum requests in the first three months of 2015, and officials expect that figure to reach 80,000 by the end of the year. By comparison, in 2014 the country received 28,000 applications. The ruling parties and opposition Greens last week agreed on draft legislation that would see towns forced to take in refugees if they refused to do so.

Haspel later told The Verge: "Imagine, a few people in tiny little Austria press on a button on their cellphone to create attention for this problem, and days later half the world knows about it. Imagine the possibilities."